Abstract:
How air temperature, wind and solar radiation impact the fluctuating climatic regime in the ponds at Bratina Island on the McMurdo Ice Shelf was assessed with an intensive study of Pond P70. The study was based around a portable data station. The parameters the station measured included air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, net radiation (over deep water), downwelling and upwelling radiation (over shallow water), temperature in the pond (at approx mid depth) and at 0, 7 and 20cm into the sediment. The data was supplemented by temperature profiles in both the water column and the sediment using a portable thermistor. The pond was mapped and the elevation of ground around it determined. Measurements of radiation flux into and out of the ponds was made using two instruments.